Yesterday was filing day at the FEC, and the highest-spending super PACs in the presidential contest, as well as groups that are spending millions to influence voters on down-ballot races, revealed information about their fundraising and spending during the month of July. The disclosures that were filed yesterday revealed some of the biggest contributions from wealthy megadonors that we’ve seen so far this election cycle.
Here’s a rundown of some of the things that caught our eyes.
Make America Great Again Inc.
Timothy Mellon, the billionaire Republican megadonor and scion of the Mellon banking family, contributed another $50 million to the largest pro-Trump super PAC on July 15, bringing his total given so far to the group this cycle to $125 million. Mellon’s latest largesse made up over 91% of MAGA Inc.’s donations last month. Mellon, the former owner of Pan Am Systems and Pan Am Railways, has been the single largest donor to federal political groups in the 2024 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.
The super PAC also received $1 million in July from a trio of large GOP donors: Jacob Helberg, a senior advisor at Palantir and a donor to the Trump 47 high-dollar joint fundraising committee; investment banker Warren Stephens, who had also given to Trump 47; and poultry magnate Ronald Cameron of Mountaire Farms; in his first donation to a Trump campaign group after he previously backed Trump’s rivals Mike Pence, and then Nikki Haley, for the presidential nomination.
Sugarcane company Florida Crystals Corporation, owned by the billionaire Fanjul family, gave $1 million to MAGA Inc. on July 30. Billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss each liquidated 2.7 Bitcoins to donate about $177,000. During July, the super PAC put made about $43 million in independent expenditures, including spending tens of millions of dollars on TV ads, along with millions of dollars spent on direct mail, smart TV ads, and text messages.
Future Forward
The biggest pro-Harris super PAC Future Forward got a $20 million transfer from its dark money arm, Future Forward USA Action, on July 29. Future Forward has already received more than $35 million from the dark money group so far this cycle, but the $20 million it received in July is the largest contribution it has taken from the group so far.
Help our two-person nonprofit newsroom follow the money — the 2024 election is projected to be the most expensive ever, and political spending to influence voters is rising. Outside spending by groups like super PACs has already surpassed $1 billion according to our friends at OpenSecrets, contributions from “dark money” groups are soaring over previous cycles, and megadonors are bankrolling spending groups with hundreds of millions of dollars. Alongside the deluge of independent expenditures on elections, federal lobbying spending hit a new high in 2023.
We rely on readers who subscribe with $5 a month to support our work, tracking campaign finance filings every day and uncovering the hidden influence of megadonors. Sludge also produces in-depth, data-driven journalism on billionaire spending, corporate donations to the most active players in key battleground states, and special interest groups moving money under the radar. Subscribers receive the full text of new Sludge stories and special newsletters, like the below, in their email the moment they’re published. We don’t have a grant from a foundation or funding support from a major philanthropist to send out this money-in-politics reporting—we hope you’ll join now as a $5-a-month subscriber ahead of the hotly-contested 2024 elections.
Another big donation Future Forward got in July was $5 million from Marc Stad, the founder of technology company investing firm Dragoneer Investment Group. Stad had donated $167,000 to Harris Victory Fund in June, but his $5 million to Future Forward is by far his largest ever federal political contribution, according to FEC records.
Sludge has covered Future Forward’s substantial dark money funding this election cycle here and here.
